Wednesday, March 7, 2012

ROMNEY THE LIAR PROPOSING UTTERLY DISHONEST TAX SCHEME

From the fine folks at Crooks and Liars, here is an account of Romney's ludicrously bad tax proposal and Willard's lies concerning it. If this doesn't make you afraid of this guy, I don't know what would:

Two weeks ago, Mitt Romney unveiled what he has repeatedly deemed a "bold" plan to deliver a 20 percent across-the-board tax cut. As it turns out, the plan isn't so bold after all. For starters, it's largely a retread of the 15 percent tax cut scheme Bob Dole rode to defeat in 1996. And after a wave of analyses showed Romney's plan would produce oceans of red ink while giving the rich yet another payday courtesy of the U.S. Treasury, Mitt admitted today that his plan "can't be scored" because "I haven't laid out all of the details."

As The Hill reported today, the GOP frontrunner is now essentially claiming he deserves an "A" because the dog ate his homework:
"So I haven't laid out all of the details about how we're going to deal with each deduction, so I think it's kind of interesting for the groups to try and score it, because frankly it can't be scored, because those kinds of details will have to be worked out with Congress, and we have a wide array of options."
As Ezra Klein's Wonkblog rightly concluded:
"Let's be clear on this: A tax plan that can't be scored because it doesn't include sufficient details is not a plan. It's a gesture towards a plan, or a statement of intended direction, or perhaps an unusually wonky daydream. But it's not a plan."

Romney's may not be a plan, but it is a recipe. At a time of record income inequality, the lowest federal tax burden in 60 years, and large budget deficits without listing all of his ingredients, Mitt Romney is just offering a recipe for exploding national debt and a windfall for the wealthy... Romney's tax cuts are even more expensive [than Bush's], clocking in at a cost of more than $10.7 trillion over the next decade and reducing revenue to a paltry 15 percent of GDP, according to Linden. Balancing the budget on those terms, as Romney claims he will do, would be next to impossible.

Mittens promises to cut taxes, massively increase the defense budget, and leave programs for the elderly intact, at least for now. Willard is fully aware that his tax proposal can't possibly balance the budget or reduce the deficit.His plan isn't intended to do those things. First, it's intended to sucker gullible people out there into thinking they're getting a windfall. Second, it's intended to channel massive amounts of money into the pockets of Willard and his pals. From CNN Money:

Mitt Romney's new tax plan would mean lower taxes for most Americans. But some would benefit more than others.
According to a new analysis from the Tax Policy Center, wealthy Americans would see their taxes fall precipitously under Mitt Romney's new plan -- which scraps the Alternative Minimum Tax and cuts marginal tax rates by 20%.

Assuming the Bush tax cuts are extended, the Romney plan would give the top 1% of earners an average tax cut of $150,000, a 7.8% reduction in their average federal tax rate, according to the Tax Policy Center.
Americans in the middle 20% of income-earners would get an average tax cut of $810, a 1.4% tax rate reduction.
Those making $1 million or more would receive an average tax cut of $[1]50,000, an 8.1% tax rate reduction, while the average American would get $2,800, a 3.5% rate drop.

The plan would also add to the deficit -- $480 billion in calendar year 2015 alone, according to the study.

Adding $480 billion to the deficit in one year?!? And Romney claims his plan is fiscally responsible? If Willard wins and the Teabagger fanatics in Congress push his tax plan through, catastrophe is the only outcome. Romney the Liar is trying to sell us all snake oil so that he and his cronies can line their pockets.